(1 year, 5 months ago)
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The Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education (Robert Halfon)
Higher technical qualifications (HTQs) are a key part of our skills reforms, addressing skills shortages and employer demand. We are now approaching the end of the first year of delivery, which has seen over 70 providers across the country able to offer 31 digital HTQs, and more qualifications are being taught from this September in construction and in health and science. Today, the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Gillian Keegan), and I will be joining providers, employers, learners and others to celebrate these successes.
This Government are committed to the success of HTQs, providing £70 million of funding to help providers build their capacity to deliver excellent higher technical training. We are also investing £300 million in prestigious, employer-led institutes of technology, which will further support the teaching of HTQs.
Building on this, I am pleased to announce the launch of a second round of the higher technical education skills injection fund (SIF), which will provide up to £48 million of funding to support providers in delivering HTQs in occupational areas including digital, engineering and manufacturing, and protective services in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years.
The SIF offers both capital and resource funding, supporting providers to purchase industry-standard specialised equipment, market their qualifications, upskill staff, develop their curriculum, and more. This will further support the growth of high-quality level 4 and 5 provision that meets the growing employer demand for higher technical skills, helping raise productivity and unlock potential.
Details of the SIF, including how providers can apply and details of webinars to provider support and guidance, will be published on www.gov.uk today.
I am pleased also to announce that details of the 66 qualifications that have been approved as HTQs in the latest cycle will be published on the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s website today.
I would also like to use this statement to thank those employers and providers who have already helped develop and deliver HTQs, and to encourage others to do so. Working together, we can ensure that more people climb the ladder of opportunity to long-term job security and prosperity.
More information about HTQs is available from
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-technical-qualification-overview
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